Vol. XIII 



I No. 12 1 INDIANA UNIVERSITY BULLETIN { Nov^m^ber 



INDIANA UNIVERSITY 
EXTENSION DIVISION 




HISTORY CONSULTATION 
SERVICE 

Designed to Aid Teachers 
in the Public Schools 



Entered as second class mail matter March 2, 1914, at the postoffice at Bloomingtc 
Indiana, under act of Congress of August 24, 1912 



Mtntgrapl 



n" 






Contents 



Nature and Origin of the Work 5 

Expansion of the Consultation Service 6 

Plans for 1915-16 7 

Some Results and Conclusions 8 

Surveys in History Teaching 9 

APPENDIXES 

A. — Report of a Survey of the History Program in the Kokomo 

Public Schools 11 

B. — Report on the History Instruction in the Public Schools 

OF South Bend 20 

C. — Opinions of School Superintendents 30 



INDIANA UNIVERSITY BULLETIN 



Vol. XIII Bloomington, Ind., November, 1915 No. 12 



Entered as second-class mail matter March 2, 1914, at the postoffice at Blooming-ton, Indiana, 
under the Act of August 24, 1912. Published from the University office, Bloomington. Indiana, 
semimonthly January, February, March, April, May, and June, and monthly July, August, 
September, October, November, and December. 



History Consultation Sendee for Teachers 
in the Public Schools 



Nature and Origin of the Work. History Consultation is a 
form of consultative or directive work with history teachers 
in the public schools. It has recently been developed in con- 
nection with other public service activities of the Extension 
Division, and is designed to meet the needs of school systems 
desiring counsel in the organization of history courses, and in 
the study of methods and the analysis of the results of history 
teaching. It includes, in a limited way, the essential features 
of the school survey. Its aim is to study at first hand the 
conditions underlying the history instruction in all grades of 
a school system, to evaluate the work, and to point out needed 
changes or approve and encourage commendable features. At 
the conclusion of such a survey, a written report, embodying 
an estimate of the work in general and offering suggestions 
for its improvement, is made to the school superintendent. 

This service is further designed to promote the scientific 
study of history teaching, both by experimentation under nor- 
mal conditions and by testing results in a large number of 
schools. The opportunity presented for studying the prob- 
lems in a broad way, and for testing by actual classroom 
practice those theories which underlie approved methods of 
instruction, easily places such consultation work in the front 
rank of the forces operating to place history teaching on a 
more scientific basis. In connection with the Bureau of 
Cooperative Research of the University, a study has already 

(5) 



6 Indiana University 

been inaugurated for determining the factors to be considered 
in an analysis of the results of history instruction. 

This work in history consultation had its origin in a brief 
consultation service with a number of Indianapolis teachers 
during the first half of the school year, 1913-14. At that 
time the University was requested by Superintendent J. G. 
Collicott, of the Indianapolis schools, to furnish for his teach- 
ers a consulting adviser in the subject of history. In response 
to this request, the University sent Mr. Oscar H. Williams, 
Critic Teacher in History, who spent about two weeks in the 
Indianapolis schools in consultation with the seventh and 
eighth grade history teachers. He visited classes, observed 
the teaching, held group conferences, and gave personal coun- 
sel to teachers and supervisors on methods and standards of 
work. This consultation, itself a new type of supervisory 
direction, proved so stimulating and helpful that many of the 
Indianapolis teachers asked that it be continued and extended 
another year. 

During the Educational Conference, held at the Univer- 
sity in the spring of 1914, a number of school superintendents 
and specialists expressed the opinion that no more helpful 
service to the public schools could be rendered than that of 
sending its trained experts for consultation with the schools. 
This point was stressed in an address by Dr. William F. Book, 
State Director of Vocational Education, and also in a paper 
written by Superintendent L. J. Montgomery, of South Bend. 

Expansion of Consultation Service. In response to the 
growing consciousness of the need for expert counsel in school 
work, the University arranged for the continuation of the 
history consultation work, under direction of the Extension 
Division. In October, 1914, an announcement of the plan for 
the work was sent to a number of city school superintendents 
in the State. As a result, during the Fall term a num- 
ber of requests for a consultation survey in history were 
received, and Mr. Williams was assigned to the schools in 
the order of the applications. During the first semester of 
the school year, 1914-15, ten school systems were visited. A 
brief review of the work of the half year follows: 

In the Indianapolis schools, about two and a half weeks 
were given to the work, the ground being covered more thoroly 
than in the previous year. In the schools of East Chicago 



History Consultation Service 7 

and Indiana Harbor (one corporation), Mishawaka, South 
Bend, Kokomo, Crawfordsville, and Seymour, from two to 
four and one-half days each were given to the study of condi- 
tions and consultation with the teachers. In three of the 
smaller systems, — viz., Summitville, Pendleton, and Frankton, 
— a day each was devoted to a brief study of the needs of 
this grade of schools. 

Additional activities of the Extension Division, in connec- 
tion with History Consultation, conducted during the year by 
Mr. Williams, are the following: (1) A course of lectures 
before the City Normal School, Indianapolis, on the Teaching 
of History in the Elementary Schools; (2) a Lecture-study 
class with a group of Indianapolis teachers for eighteen weeks 
in the same subject; and (3) a Conference on History Teach- 
ing in Secondary Schools, organized and held at Gary, Indiana, 
February 26 and 27, 1915. This Conference was distinctive 
in that it concentrated attention upon two or three aspects 
of history teaching, — viz., concrete practical problems, such 
as effective collateral reading and notebook work; the vital- 
izing of history work thru visualized instruction and pageants ; 
and standards for judging the worth of courses of study and 
methods of instruction. It was attended by about seventy- 
five teachers and principals from high schools of northern 
Indiana and the city of Chicago. 

The following is a statistical view of the consultation work 
for the year 1914-15: 

Number of school systems visited 10 

Number general meetings held 7 

Number round table conferences held 23 

Number teachers present at conferences 350 

Number full recitations observed 257 

Total number pupils in classes visited 6,280 

Plans for 1915-16. During the year 1915-16 the work in 
History Consultation is to be further extended. The services 
of Mr. Williams will again be placed at the disposal of the 
schools for one semester. Upon request of the school officials 
in any town, township, or city, Mr. Williams will visit its 
schools to advise and counsel with the teachers upon the prob- 
lems of teaching history. He will observe the work of each 
teacher for at least one full recitation. He will conduct round- 
table conferences of small groups of teachers, with a view to 
making common property the most effective methods, the 



8 Indiana University 

results of experimentation, and appropriate standards for 
judging the work. As a basis for the conferences, a pamphlet 
setting forth the point of view, the nature of the subject, 
the values claimed for it, and the special method and stand- 
ards for judging the efficiency of history instruction, will be 
furnished the teachers without charge. 

With respect to Mr. Williams, it should be stated that for 
some years he has directed the practice teaching in history in 
the University, and has given the courses in the teaching of 
history in the School of Education. He is the author, in col- 
laboration with Professor Samuel B. Harding, of the study on 
History Teaching in High Schools, published by the University 
in 1909. He was the chairman of the committee of the History 
Section of the State Teachers' Association which prepared the 
volume of Readings in Indiana History (470 pages) recently 
published for the schools by the Extension Division. His 
position is now that of Assistant Professor of Education. 

Some Results and Conclusions. The benefits to a system 
of schools of consultation work with any group of its teachers 
readily become apparent. The most immediate benefit is per- 
haps found in the impetus to better work given to teachers 
in the everyday teaching of their subject. Teachers receive, 
in many instances for the first time, a real conception of the 
proper aims, an intelligent view of the better practices, and a 
working notion of efficiency standards. This result is reached 
in part thru discussion in conferences, and in part thru prac- 
tical application in demonstration work. 

More fundamental results are seen in the cooperative 
efforts on the part of teachers and principals, with a view to 
the elimination of shortcomings in the work. In several sys- 
tems in which consultation service was rendered in 1914-15, 
the teachers have inaugurated a definite study of conditions, 
and thru a selected group have undertaken to bring the history 
work to a higher standard of efficiency. In South Bend, for 
example, a committee of representative teachers and princi- 
pals has been engaged since December in formulating a course 
of study in history and civics, in discovering fresh and inter- 
esting materials, and in studying the needs of the schools with 
regard to facilities for teaching the subject. In Kokomo a 
similar committee, consisting of elementary and high school 
teachers, has developed this year one of the most instructive 



History Consultation Service 9 

and best balanced courses of study in history and civics to be 
found in the State. 

It is not too much to say that the immediate impulse and 
the insight to intelligent action in much of this constructive 
work has arisen directly from the consultation service. 

Conclusions as to conditions in the history work in many 
systems of schools in Indiana may be summarized in brief : 

1. As to courses of study. In very many, if not a ma- 
jority, of the cities and towns, the elementary school course 
in history and civics is more or less chaotic ; often without 
apparent unity of thought or purpose ; in places meager, almost 
barren, in materials ; and woefully one-sided and narrow, being 
confined almost exclusively to American history, with tire- 
some repetition of fact and point of view. The high school 
course, thanks to the standardizing influence of the reports 
of the two important committees (Committee of Seven and 
Committee of Five) , offers a better selection and organization 
of fields, tho often ill-balanced as between the earlier and more 
modern periods. A more distinct place, moreover, should be 
made, for others of the social sciences, e.g. Civics and Ele- 
mentary Economics. 

2. As to material equipment. In the great majority of 
schools, the material facilities for history instruction are 
inadequate. In very great numbers of cases, the teaching of 
history is limited thruout the grades to a single textbook. 
Equipment for visual instruction — maps, charts, pictures, lan- 
tern views, sand-tables — is totally wanting. Reading material 
of a really vital sort is scanty and inaccessible to the schools. 

3. As to methods of teaching. Save here and there in 
the case of the exceptional teacher of history found in every 
system of schools (and the number of such is surprisingly 
large), the teachers appear not generally to have defined their 
purposes in teaching the subject. They appear, also, to have 
no clearly defined standards of work. Often their dominant 
aim would seem to be to cover a given amount of a textbook 
and to prepare their pupils for the examinations. The great 
end of historical instruction, to give to pupils an intelligent 
appreciation of present-day life and problems, apparently has 
no place in the average teaching of the subject. 

Surveys in History Teaching. In all cases, except in those 
schools in which only a cursory study of conditions was made, 



10 Indiana University 

a written report embodying a survey of the work and recom- 
mendations for improvement was submitted to the school au- 
thorities. With the consent of the school systems concerned, 
the report made in two cases is incorporated in this bulletin, 
with a view both to giving a notion of how conditions were 
treated in the survey, and to revealing the history situation 
in two representative systems of city schools. It is not to be 
understood that the conditions were worse in the two cases 
treated; indeed, in many respects they were superior to those 
in other cities visited. On the whole, the history work in the 
two places noted below was on a par with that in the better 
systems thruout the State. We believe, moreover, that it is 
now on the way to very decided improvement. 



Appendix A. — A Survey of the History Program in 
the Kokomo PubUc Schools 

By Oscar H. Williams, 
Assistant Professor of Education in Indiana University. 

Introductory Note. At the request of Superintendent Haworth, the 
Extension Division undertook a brief survey of the history work in the 
Kokomo public schools. The writer spent three days in visiting the high 
school, and the Lincoln, Palmer, Meridian, Central, and Willard buildings. 
Not all the work was seen at any one of these schools, but sufficient 
teaching was seen altogether to give an idea of its character and quality. 
The discovery was soon made that the chief deficiency lay in the course 
of study, which in the lower grades in particular was loosely organized 
and somewhat indefinite even with the teachers. 

Two group conferences were held on the afternoon of January 11, and 
the important subject was what history to teach in the elementary grades. 
On the morning of the 12th, a special committee previously named by 
the superintendent to consider the course in history and civics met at 
the Central school with the visitor and held a conference on the proper 
plan for developing a satisfactory course of study. A general plan 
involving the nature of the stories and subject materials in each stage 
of instruction was outlined and the committee left to work out the details. 

In the written survey herewith submitted, the writer has confined him- 
self almost exclusively to the consideration of the course of study. That 
appears to be the most immediate problem confronting the teachers in 
these schools. A useful selection and gradation of materials having been 
made, their adaptation to children for purposes of instruction is a rela- 
tively easy matter. 

Aims and Purposes. The first task of the teacher and of the super- 
visor, in constructing a program and applying methods of work, is a 
clear analysis of aims and purposes to be accomplished in the work. 

The aims of historical instruction may be defined both narrowly and 
broadly, that is, from the broad aspect of school aims, and from the nar- 
rower and more significant side of specific training. 

Historical Instruction and School Aims. To quote from an earlier 
report prepared by the writer for another system of schools: 

"The aims of educational effort and of historical teaching in the 
schools are more clearly apprehended. If we accept the comprehensive 
end, viz., that of general culture, history affords a potent instrument of 
education. For history, as few other subjects, if properly taught, carries 
the child beyond the narrow range of his personal interests, helps him to 
interpret human life in its practical aspects, serves to explain the best 
artistic and intellectual achievements of the race, and broadens and 

(11) 



12 Indiana University 

humanizes the mind by bringing it into contact with peoples and leaders 
of other times. 

"If social efficiency is the great end of education, history still remains 
an important agency. For it is history which best explains the nature 
of social evolution, reveals the problems which have confronted organized 
society in all ages, and trains the power of social analysis and of evalu- 
ation of social situations. 

"If the chief aim of school training is citizenship, history is again a 
powerful agent in the educative process. For it is thru history that 
the best national ideals and traditions are to be transmitted, the origin 
and growth of civil institutions are revealed, and the great issues of civic 
life are explained.'" 

Specific Training thru History. The special ends of history work are 
summarized in a suggestive way by a recent writer: 

"The aims of the study may be formulated thus: (1) to give pupils an 
appreciation of the social and spiritual evolution of the race, and the 
important influence that individual members of society are exerting on 
the progress of civilization; (2) to assist pupils to an understanding of 
the character and function of existing social institutions and activities, 
and to aid them to adjust themselves more readily and completely to 
them; (3) to give pupils a basis for anticipating in part the trend of 
future events, and thus to help them to plan their careers more intelli- 
gently; (4) to inspire pupils with ideals of personal and social worth and 
to arouse them to effort in the cooperative undertakings of society; 
(5) to give a fund of relatable, usable knowledge, and a background for 
the study of all other branches of instruction; (6) to secure mental train- 
ing, particularly with reference to the powers of social analysis, com- 
parison, constructive imagination, inference, and judgment; to develop 
the historical attitude of mind, and, in general, to cultivate an apprecia- 
tion of the significance of historical studies and an enjoyment of them.'" 

History Aims and Course of Study. In the light of special and general 
aims in historical teaching, let us examine the available subject material 
and its arrangement in a course of study. 

The Course as it Stands. Even a cursory survey of the program for 
history and civics in the Kokomo public schools reveals much to be desired 
both in the selection and in the gradation of materials. In brief compass, 
the elementary school course in these subjects is substantially as follows: 
(1) In grades one to three, a few conventional stories relating to Indians, 
pioneers, and the public holidays; a small number of Old Testament 
stories; and here and there a story connected with a world leader. Many 
of these stories are told and retold in the successive grades with little 
variation of detail. (2) In grades four and five are found other more or 
less stereotyped stories of the explorers, colonizers, and builders of the 
American nation. (3) In the sixth year, some "leaders and heroes" of the 
Old World (chiefly statesmen and generals) are given. (4) In the sev- 
enth and eighth grades, the State-adopted textbook forms the basis of 
the work. A semester devoted to elementary civics occurs in the last 
half of the eighth year. 



iReport of a Survey of the History Work in the Mishawaka Public Schools. 
2Davi8, High School Course of Study, 41. 



History Consultation Service 13 

The course in elementary civics lacks definite organization and has 
no well-defined correlation with the civics work in the high school. More- 
over, civics in the grades is confined to this half year and entirely neg- 
lected in other grades. Much is left to the teacher in the choice of topics, 
point of view, and manner of presenting the subject. In one building 
which was visited some really effective work was being done in civics. 

Treatment of the Stories. Below the seventh grade, the stories are 
usually treated as exercises in reading, language, or oral composition. 
They are also referred to in work in geography. In the lower grades 
history does not occupy a separate place on the program and receives 
only incidental attention in so far as it fits into the scheme of studies. 
The history work in these grades quite properly should be correlated with 
other subjects, but it should not become a mere incident in the exigencies 
of other studies. It should receive regular and careful treatment as other 
subjects usually do. 

High School History. In the high school the course offered is the 
standard three years of history and civics taught in more than eighty- 
five percent of the high schools of the State. There occurs an injection 
of industrial history in the eleventh year. This subject, tho a valuable 
one for an industrial community, such as Kokomo, is rather badly corre- 
lated with the history course as a whole. It seems to have been engrafted 
upon the parent stock, — a stereotyped course with a poor balance between 
the earlier and later or more modern periods. More properly the indus- 
trial history should be offered as an elective in the freshman or sopho- 
more year, to be taken as a correlative of courses in industrial training. 

Does the Program Fulfil the Aims of History? One cannot refrain 
from asking whether history in such a scheme of work will fulfil the 
ends of history instruction. Will it give, even in limited degree, an 
appreciation of the spiritual and social evolution of the race? To what 
extent does it apparently seek to arouse pupils to effort in the coopera- 
tive undertakings of society? Will it serve to explain the function of 
existing social institutions and activities of the race? Will it give train- 
ing in the analysis of social situations, or develop the historical attitude 
of mind, or cultivate an appreciation of historical studies or an enjoyment 
of them ? One must seriously doubt whether a one-sided course, of 
meager and non-social material, as much of it is, will secure any of these 
results. 

Shortcomings of the Course in History and Civics. To begin with, 
the course in the grades is confined almost exclusively to American his- 
tory. Save in one year (the sixth) it almost completely ignores Old 
World antecedents of New World life. It nowhere presents a clear view 
of the earlier stages of human progress or a sufficient background of 
European beginnings and English origins of American ideas and institu- 
tions. The result must inevitably be for the pupil a narrow and one- 
sided conception of the place of America in world history. 

In the next place, the course in the grades is marked by a dearth of 
materials. It is well-nigh barren of really vital and stimulating stories. 
It offers stories which are hackneyed and worn threadbare from sheer 
repetition. Children cling to old stories, it is true, but they love the old 



14 Indiana University 

in ever new forms. A fresh and interesting setting, a new aspect of the 
story itself, should characterize the story wherever it is necessary to 
use the same story again. In view of the copious and unfailing spring 
from which are drawn the materials of history, ever rich in social sug- 
gestiveness and stimulating quality, such meagerness in a course of study 
for children would seem to be almost unpardonable. 

Another serious lack of the history course is the want of some civic 
instruction thruout the grades. In an age when civic spirit in the average 
citizen is at low ebb, when children and youth are growing up in neglect 
and defiance of authority, when the whole citizenry is permeated with 
indifference to community needs and community welfare, certainly some 
instruction in civic ideals and civic duties is needed. 

Finally, the existing high school history course cannot readily fulfil 
the function of aiding pupils to understand present-day social institutions 
and activities, for the reason that it places undue stress upon the ancient 
and medieval at the expense of the modern period. It actually devotes 
twice as much time to the ancient history as to either modern or Ameri- 
can history or to civics. One might well suspect that the aim is to pre- 
pare the children for citizenship in the imperial city of Rome or in the 
Athenian city-state. This would perhaps not be so deplorable in its con- 
sequences were these boys and girls all preparing to become classical 
scholars, or archeologists, or teachers of Latin or Greek. Most of them 
will become none of these. The chief or sole interest of the majority 
will consist in understanding thru history how the world of today has 
come to be what it is. The dominating factors which determine the 
Europe of today scarcely go back to the middle of the eighteenth century. 
Some achievements of permanent interest and value, in law and govern- 
ment, in art, philosophy, and literature, were wrought out in the days of 
imperial Rome and democratic Athens. But there is no need that these 
be given twice the time and attention as the great social and economic 
forces which have made the Europe of today. 

Desirable Readjustments in the History Program. No one seriously 
questions the need of a definite place for the teaching of history and 
civics in every year of the elementary and high school. The question to 
be answered is. What types of material are suited to the various grades 
of instruction? 

1. History in the Primary Grades. Simple elementary types of 
social and industrial life constitute the staple in the first three years of 
school work. These are presented in story form, in language and modes 
of expression which appeal to the child's experience and native interests. 

The stories may be grouped, even in the first years, in such a way 
as to bring out the stages of man's advance in social organization. Thus 
stories of cave-men, of cliff-dwellers, of Indians and Eskimos, illustrate 
the hunting and fishing stage; stories of the Hebrew patriarchs (Old 
Testament) — of Abraham, Isaac, Joseph, — belong to the pastoral stage; 
those of the early settlers and of the pioneers of the Middle West stand 
for the agricultural; and those of the later pioneer, the industrial. Inter- 
spersed with these stories of more substantial fabric should be tales of 
imaginative quality, those of myth and folklore, which belong to the 
childhood of the race. 



History Consultation Service 15 

In every kind of story, the social and industrial life may be studied 
in concrete forms. The Indian stories, for example, will bring into relief 
the characteristics of their home life — their food, dress, shelter — their 
social customs, modes of transportation and exchange, as well as their 
customary occupations. The stories connected with the pioneers will like- 
wise show how these simple folk met and solved the problems involved in 
obtaining food, clothing, and shelter. 

No richer or more suggestive stories may be found than those of 
the western pioneers. So far as possible, pioneer stories of the locality 
should be worked up, as well as those of the State. The raw material 
for these stories, fresh, new, virile, is most abundant. It is found in the 
local traditions of the city, in the pages of county histories, in county 
records, and in files of old newspapers. Stories of the State's early 
settlement and growth are found in rich variety in the book of Readings 
in Indiana History. The teachers should, in these lower grades, become 
thoroly familiar with the material and work it up into new and attractive 
forms. 

"The simple, thrilling biographies of early pioneer life are best calcu- 
lated to awaken the interest of younger children," writes Charles 
McMurry. "They are plain and primitive and withal so energetic and 
spirited that they correspond to a child's physical and mental moods. 
Their heroism brings out those marks of prowess which children so much 
admire. They are in the main free from the complexities and entangle- 
ments of great wars and of later political and social institutions. The 
elements of personal character find for children a clear and full expres- 
sion of pioneer danger and struggle and make an indelible mark upon 
them." 

2. History in the Intermediate Grades. In the fourth and fifth 
grades, a second survey of the world's history is made thru biographical 
stories. It may consist of stories of either actual or of type characters. 
In any selection not merely great statesmen or military leaders or popu- 
lar heroes should be chosen. Men of action and achievement in other 
lines — in industry, art, literature, pioneering — are worthy a place. Dis- 
coverers, explorers, inventors, — pathbreakers of civilization — captains of 
industry, pioneers, all are attractive to children of these years. 

The stories should, of course, be presented in their proper chrono- 
logical setting, and should be so grouped as to present a summary view 
of the history of the race. Jane Andrews's classic Ten Boys presents 
such a view, with idealized or type figures, in a most excellent way. 
Tappan's Old World Hero Stories and American Hero Stories, two books 
dealing with actual historical characters, constitute another instance of 
the desirable arrangement. Harding's Greek Gods, Heroes, and Men, and 
Story of the Seven Hills, offer such a group of the earlier times. 

The aim is not so much to present a connected story as to give the 
broad outline of human history thru these heroic and typical figures. 
"Somehow," writes Walter Bagehot of historical reading for children, 
"the whole comes in boyhood, the details later and in manhood. The won- 
derful series going far back to the times of the old patriarchs with their 
flocks and herds, the keen-eyed Greek, the stately Roman, the watching 
Jew, the uncouth Goth, the horrid Hun, the settled picture of the unchang- 



16 Indiana University 

ing East, the restless shifting of the rapid West, the rise of the cold and 
classical civilization, its fall, the rough impetuous Middle Ages, the 
vague, warm pictures of ourselves and home, — when did we learn these? 
Not yesterday nor today; but long ago in the first dawn of reason, in 
the original flow of fancy." 

3. History in the Advanced Grades. Beginning with the sixth 
year, the study of history becomes more formal and systematic. It is 
the continuous narrative of man's development in his activities as a social 
being. Children are now beginning to reason in a simple way and are 
quite able to trace causal connections between facts and movements. 

In these years still another "cycle" of the historical process is under 
survey. The sixth year is devoted to a study of European beginnings. 
This may be taken up in some such way as is done in Gordy's American 
Beginnings in Europe, or in Nida's Dawn of American History in Europe, 
or in Harding's Story of Europe. The first half of the seventh year 
should provide for a study of English history. Harding's Story of 
England is admirable for the purpose in view. The last part of the 
seventh and the first of the eighth year should be given to American his- 
tory, followed by a half year of community civics. The division between 
the two semesters of American history will fall somewhere about 1815, 
thus giving the more time to the later national period and stressing the 
history of the nation since the Civil War. 

Such a course, while it gives American history the place of chief 
importance, does not neglect its European connections. "The child should 
never be allowed to forget that America is the child of European civiliza- 
tion," says Bourne, "that it received a great heritage of laws and tradi- 
tions, and that its own life is unintelligible, save as it appears in its 
place in the history of the world." 

A word needs here to be said concerning the place of local and State 
history. In the year of American history, and in the study of community 
civics, the great issues and currents of the nation's life find innumerable 
applications in the history of Indiana. Such aspects as Indian wars, 
westward migration, land policies of the government, internal improve- 
ments, banking, slavery extension, and the Civil War itself, were all 
worked out on the local stage. A most convenient collection of material 
exists in the book of Readings in Indiana History. Where these ques- 
tions are treated in the regular course, this book should be used by the 
class for illustrative purposes. It will make concrete and definite ideas 
which otherwise would remain remote and distant in their impressions. 

4. Civics in the Grades. As previously pointed out, there is both 
need and opportunity for civic instruction in every year of the school 
course. Below the sixth grade it will consist of simple lessons on the 
child's relations to his immediate social groups, the family, the school, 
the neighborhood. Right social and civic attitudes will be the constant 
aim of the teaching. For example, the first instruction will center about 
the home and will deal with the child's duties toward his parents, the 
younger children, the aged members, his pets, and so on. 

Above the sixth grade, the work will extend to the wider social units, 
the city and State. It is here that the study of "community civics" be- 



History Consultation Service 17 

comes most fruitful. It will consider the relation of the pupil to the com- 
munity, what he owes to the community, and how it serves and helps him. 
Nor should the study be confined to the mere academic discussion of these 
matters, but it should provide for actual participation in the activities of 
the community. Innumerable opportunities exist for such participation 
in connection with city sanitation, beautification, and even social sur- 
veys and amelioration. For example, the children may be encouraged to 
conduct a "clean-up" campaign in their respective neighborhoods, to plant 
trees and shrubbery about their homes and school grounds, to observe and 
report cases of ill-disposal of garbage, and the like. 

In the seventh and eighth grades the study will consider the govern- 
mental aspects more fully than previously. A textbook such as Dunn's 
Cotnniunity and the Citizen or Nida's City, State, and A'ation, should be 
placed in the hands of the children not later than the last part of the 
eighth year. 

5. History in the High School. A final survey of the history of 
mankind is made in the high school. There is here a new point of view 
— an increasing social emphasis — in the study of history. Says the Com- 
mittee of Seven: "One does not need to say in these latter days that sec- 
ondary education ought to fit boys and girls to become, not scholastics, 
but men and women who know their surroundings and have come to a 
sympathetic knowledge of their environment; and it does not seem neces- 
sary now to argue that the most essential result of secondary education 
is acquaintance with political and social environment, some appreciation 
of the nature of the state and society, some sense of the duties and 
responsibilities of citizenship, some capacity in dealing with political and 
governmental questions, something of the broad and tolerant spirit which 
is bred by the study of past times and conditions." 

(a) The Course in Ancietit History. The work properly begins with 
a study of the ancient world.. The essential elements of the Greek and 
Roman civilizations — their place in history and their contributions to 
modern culture — are all that should be considered. Many sorts of things 
frequently taught in ancient history may well be discarded, for the simple 
reason that their bearing upon modei-n life and conditions is too remote. 
Such are dynastic history, details of early constitutional development, 
legendary stories, the struggle of the orders, and most of the wars of 
conquest. Says Professor James Harvey Robinson in this connection: 
"No one questions the inalienable right of the historian to interest him- 
self in any phase of the past that he chooses. It is only to be wished that 
a greater number of historians had greater skill in hitting upon those 
phases of the past which serve us best in understanding the most vital 
problems of the present." 

In a half year at most, high school pupils should acquire adequate 
knowledge of the ancient peoples to satisfy the conditions of historical 
perspective and to serve as the basis for later understanding of the Mid- 
dle Ages or of the modern world. 

"In the study of Athenian history in the secondary school," says the 
Committee of Five, "the early development should be disregarded and 
effort concentrated upon the actual workings of Athenian democracy in 



18 Indiana University 

the Periclean age. Likewise no attempt should be made to reconstruct 
the institutions of the regal period or the supposed history of the struggle 
between the orders. The teacher will do well if he leaves a clear under- 
standing of the government of the republic in the period of the Punic 
wars, the character of the provincial system, the constitutional issues 
of the later republic, the changes introduced by Augustus, and the 
nature of the later empire. Thruout the study of ancient history much 
better results would he secured by fuller and more descriptive study of 
significant epochs, at the expense of much chronological narration once 
deemed important." 

(6) European History tn the High School. With a half year of 
ancient history, the pupils are prepared for a fuller treatment of Euro- 
pean history since 800. Of this field, however, by far the most vital 
and significant to the understanding of the Europe of today is the 
portion since the middle of the eighteenth century. Medieval and early 
modern history, say to 1648, may readily be covered in a half year, leav- 
ing a full year to either modern or some combination of modern and 
English history since about 1600. In the latter course, whether of 
continental or of English history, time may be found for the growth 
and development of the British Empire, and in connection with this sub- 
ject something may be done with the English colonies in America. 

(c) Americayi History and Civics. The last year of the course, 
usually the senior year of the high school students, is equally divided 
between American history and a separate study of civics. The former 
will be confined to the rise, development, and growth of the American 
nation. If the plan is carried out of treating the colonies in connection 
with English or European history, then the course in American history 
may begin with a general survey of the colonial period, and take up 
the detailed study at about 1760. 

The treatment of American history should be by means of "longi- 
tudinal" topics rather than by the merely chronological order as is fol- 
lowed in the seventh and eighth years. That is to say, in the study of 
any period, the large topics should be traced entirely thru the period. 
Let us say the period under view is that of the rise of American nation- 
ality from 1783 to 1840. Then the relations of the new nation with 
foreign powers should be followed thru this period consecutively; so 
the rise of political parties, the development of a public land policy, 
the westward migration, and others. The growth and spread of slavery 
should be considered a unit from its early beginnings to the opening of 
the sectional strife about 1845. Sectionalism itself is a unit for study 
between 1845 and 1861. Later, these topics should be considered as still 
larger wholes and traced thru the entire history of the nation. Immigra- 
tion, for example, should be treated as a whole from the beginning of its 
marked influence about 1820 to the present day; and so should be traced 
railway transportation, tariff legislation, financial history, party devel- 
opment, and so on. In this way, a unified impression of American history 
may be built up. 

In civics, while giving due attention to State and local aspects of 
National questions, the attention should be given largely to the study of 



History Consultation Service 19 

these larger phases of public policy. Community civics, it will be remem- 
bered, has been studied in the seventh and eighth years. Even local 
questions should now be treated from the broad aspect of the nation. 
City government, for example, should be viewed on its administrative 
side from the point of view of the vai-ious modes of dealing with the ques- 
tion in this country, such as the city manager, commission plan, and 
others. 

(d) Industrial History and Economics. As already indicated, indus- 
trial history as a separate subject should be offered as an elective in the 
ninth or tenth year. It will there best correlate with the industrial or 
pre-vocational studies. Economics may be taught as an elective in the 
eleventh or twelfth year. 

Recommendations. A program of studies in history having been 
sketched in broad outline, it remains to prescribe a plan of action. This 
we are glad to do as follows: 

1. The committee of grade and high school teachers, who have been 
commissioned to formulate a course, should continue in active work dur- 
ing another year. It should study the operation of the course which it 
has outlined, and gradually develop a directive syllabus. This syllabus 
should not only indicate the stories, topics, and larger movements, but 
should also point the way to the sources of such materials in books, peri- 
odicals, and local traditions. 

2. The teachers of history in the schools of Kokomo should have a 
large share in directing the reading of children. They should be per- 
mitted to select most of the books, both for school libraries and the public 
library, relating to the subject and suitable for children. Few persons 
know so well as the teachers both the interests and capacities of chil- 
dren in matters of reading. 

A noteworthy beginning has been made. Whether it is to bear its 
best fruit will depend upon the vigilance of the teachers and principals, 
acting in cooperation with the superintendent. 



Appendix B. — History Instruction in the Public 
Schools of South Bend 

By Oscar H. Williams, 
Assistant Professor of Education in Indiana University. 

Introductory Note. In response to a request from the superintendent, 
the Extension Division of Indiana University, in November, 1914, under- 
took a consultation survey of the history work in the South Bend public 
schools. The w^riter w^as commissioned to carry out the work and in late 
November and early December spent the best part of a school week in 
visiting and conferring with the teachers, investigating the facilities for 
their work, and offering suggestions looking to the improvement of the 
work in general. 

In the four days at his disposal, it was thought best to confine the 
visiting to the teachers of the grammar grades and the high school. With 
a few exceptions, every teacher in these grades was visited and observed 
thru an entire recitation period. In a very few cases, teachers of the 
fifth and sixth grades were also visited, tho no serious study of the 
work below grade seven was undertaken. 

A general meeting for the discussion of aims and standards of histo- 
rical instruction, and two round-table conferences, were held. Follow- 
ing the conferences, some more personal consultation was arranged. In 
the conferences and consultation an endeavor was made to offer helpful 
suggestions on the common problems and difficulties in the everyday 
teaching of history. With the belief that more definite suggestions and 
more extended recommendations are needed, this written report is respect- 
fully submitted. 

In the visitation and consultation, the quality of the instruction, and 
its efficiency as measured by the usual teaching standards, constituted 
the main point for consideration. No attempt was made to measure the 
quantitative aspects of the instruction. Standards of actual measurement 
in history work are as yet too little developed to permit their application 
with satisfactory results to classroom instruction. 

In the visitation and conferences, the unfailing courtesy and hearty 
cooperation of all concerned, of the superintendent, assistant superintend- 
ent, principals, and teachers, placed the writer under lasting obligation to 
them for making an otherwise difficult task a work of real pleasure. 

History Instruction and School Aims. In attempting a summary of 
conclusions as to the merits and shortcomings of the work in history, the 
writer finds the problem gi-eatly simplified by the publication of the 
admirable report of the general school survey, which was conducted last 
spring by the Department of Education of the University of Chicago. 

(20) 



History Consultation Service 21 

With the basic features of that report — its fundamental assumptions of 
educational theory and practice — he is of course in hearty and full accord. 
The report has set out, in some cases fully and concretely, the relation 
of history instruction to the realization of the proposed ends of education. 
It has treated the matter so clearly, and with such marked comprehen- 
sion of the entire problem, that we may leave further consideration of the 
point to the perusal of the report. Certainly the report deserves the seri- 
ous consideration and thoughtful study of the teachers of history and 
their supervisors in these schools. 

It is important to state here that, in our opinion, adequate instruction 
in history — comprehending the selection, organization, emphasis, and 
treatment of subject material— is more vitally concerned with education 
for citizenship, for leisure, even for vocation, than it is with other ends 
of school training; and that it is more potent as an instrument for the 
realization of these aims than some others of the school studies, certainly 
more than is commonly credited to it. According as provision is made 
for one or another of these aims, or for all of them, in the general sys- 
tem of educational work, the selection, organization, and adaptation of 
history materials should be consciously shaped to the ends in view. As 
the matter now stands, in these schools, the history course as adapted 
by the teachers for purposes of instruction does make some, tho inade- 
quate, provision for the first object, and has feeble regard for the second, 
and little or none for the third aim. 

The history work in the South Bend schools has much to commend it. 
The absence of a rigid syllabus, leaving each school free to adapt the 
subject as conditions may require; the general mode of treatment, — the 
simple story and its dramatic presentation in the primary grades, the 
biographical approach in the intermediate years, the topical analysis in 
the grammar grades and high school ; the central core of American his- 
tory in the elementary schools, and the enrichment and broadening scope 
in the high school; the serious use of current topics at stated times; all 
these factors in the teaching of the subject constitute a sound and healthy 
basis of work. 

And yet there are observable grave deficiencies of organization, equip- 
ment, and teaching of this most strategic subject. We shall attempt, in 
a constructive spirit, to point out the more striking shortcomings of the 
work. 

The Program of Instruction. The scheme of wor-k outlined in the 
printed course represents an earlier and serious attempt to study the 
problem and formulate a history course in harmony with the better prac- 
tice of the time. The course as outlined is the result of the earnest study 
by a group of thoughtful principals and teachers. It is in consequence 
more nearly related to community needs than is the ready-made or bor- 
rowed course of study, so common even in the better systems of schools. 

Nevertheless, it falls short of presenting a desirable or effective plan 
of work. Parts of it are antiquated and poorly adapted to the ends which 
society is now defining for educational effort. Even the teachers are 
frankly discarding portions of the civics outline. A cursory glance shows 
that from the primary grades to the high school its view even of American 
history is narrow and restricted. It would seem to be based upon the 



22 Indiana University 

assumption, neither well founded nor useful for instruction, that the 
history of the American people began about three centuries ago with the 
landing of the first permanent European settlers upon the Atlantic shore 
of this continent. Below the high school, the course of study utterly 
ignores the early stages of human history, neglects European beginnings, 
and is indifferent to English origins of American ideas. Apparently its 
makers failed to understand that many institutions fundamental to our 
civilization had their beginnings ages ago and in lands remote even from 
the home of our Anglo-Saxon forebears. 

It was pointed out in the conferences that, in the grades under 
survey, the warp of American history is worn threadbare from sheer 
repetition. About the same facts are taught and stressed in the seventh 
and eighth years as in the fifth and sixth, and these are again rehashed 
in the senior year of the high school. Little wonder that much of the 
charm and vitality of the nation's history are lost for high school stu- 
dents. These advanced students are served a stereotyped assortment of 
more or less conventional facts of a political character most of which they 
have honestly tried to digest twice or thrice before. Actual observation 
of the teaching in these grades, comparison in detail of the textbook 
matter for the different grades, and the semi-indifferent attitude of the 
advanced students as noted in classroom, together confirm the suspicion 
of the deadening effect of useless repetition. When substantially the 
same facts of colonial planting, of the growth of local institutions, of the 
contest for continental control, of the Revolutionary struggle, of consti- 
tution building, and of national development, are given all along the way 
with little freshness or variation in the manner of looking at them, it 
certainly is time to take stock of our resources and readjust our materials. 

In the lower or primary grades, history teaching is confined to the 
telling of a few stories connected with Indian life and to the recital of 
conventional tales of the early settlement of the colonies. No mention is 
made in these years of the early history of the children's own State. No 
reference is made to the pioneer period of their county. No suggestion is 
offered of the early beginnings of their city. Yet the folklore of the 
pioneer epoch of the State and locality abounds in social suggestiveness 
as well as in charm and variety for children. The site of the city lay 
originally in the path of one of the early exploring and trading routes. 
A cluster of attractive and illuminating stories cling to the locality. 
Many of these narratives of explorer, trader, and pioneer huntsman and 
farmer contain experiences nearer the lives of children than those of 
Pilgrim and Puritan. For freshness, interest, and stimulating quality, 
they are in a class wholly by themselves. 

These stories of pioneer times are now easily accessible to teachers. 
They occur in the oral traditions of the city. They are embodied in the 
county histories and in the papers of the local historical society. They 
are given artistic expression in the books of Maurice Thompson and Mrs. 
Levering. They and like tales are told by contemporaries in the im- 
portant collection of Readings in Indiana History. 

Old World tales of the simpler stages of human progress are suited 
to these grades. Old Testament narratives portray the simple nomadic 
life so full of interest and charm for children of these years. The stories 



History Consultation Service 23 

of patriarchs and of herdsmen furnish appropriate material for interpret- 
ing the more advanced stages of human life. Many stories of the early 
Greeks and Romans, of old Norse heroes, of Teuton and Anglo-Saxon in 
early times, are peculiarly adapted to children. 

These stories may form the staple of the reading and language lessons 
as well as of the history. Their literary and ethical value is no less im- 
portant than their historical significance. Classic collections of these 
stories are inexpensive and are readily procurable. 

In the fifth and sixth grades, the instruction in history is restricted 
to the stories presented in a two-book series. These stories are exclusively 
those of American leaders, largely statesmen and generals. In the fifth 
grade, European leaders and stories of type characters, such as are found 
in Jane Andrews' classic Ten Boys, should find a place. Children find 
real enjoyment in being carried to the farther reaches of history. Such 
stories are found in the admirable series of books written by Professor 
Harding. In the sixth year, a book like Nida's Dawn of American His- 
tory in Europe, or Gordy's American Beginnings in Europe, or Harding's 
Story of Europe, will give the needed perspective and background to 
American history when it is taken up in the seventh grade. All three 
books are admirably written and present the kind of emphasis required 
for a real understanding of European beginnings of American History. 

The civics course in the elementary grades is even more ill-adjusted 
than the history outline. The congestion of civic instruction in the fifth 
and sixth grades, and its neglect in other parts of the course, are little to 
be commended either in theory or in results. Its plan of dealing with 
governmental functions to the exclusion of other social relationships is 
unsound and ill-advised. There should be definite provision for civics 
teaching of some kind in every year of the elementary school course. In 
the first years its matter and method should be quite simple, but the 
instruction will be no less definite and concrete. It will center about the 
home, the neighborhood, the school, the city. It will consist for the most 
part of simple instruction in the relations and obligations of the child to 
each of his social groups. A recent book, A Course in Citizenship, (pub- 
lished by the Houghton-Mifflin Company) , offers a helpful plan of work 
for these grades. 

In the grammar grades, preferably in the last half of the eighth year, 
a book of the type of Nida's City, State, and Nation, or of Dunn's The 
Community and the Citizen, should form the basis of the work. The 
civic questions relating to community life may best be understood when 
viewed in an historic background. The instruction in these grades should 
provide for a due proportion of practical information and observation 
and participation in the civic activities of the community. The oppor- 
tunities for this kind of school instruction are manifold in such aspects 
as city sanitation, beautification, economics, and similar social and civic 
activities. 

In the matter of emphasis, history instruction in the South Bend 
schools is almost purely a review of political development. It stresses 
the political aspects of discovery and settlement, of the planting of politi- 
cal institutions, the growth of governmental forms, the development of 
State and nation on the political side. Economic and social aspects of 



24 Indiana University 

national development are scarcely touched or only by incidental refer- 
ence. The social aspects of settlement, for example, receive attention in 
textbook and classroom teaching hardly commensurate with their impor- 
tance. The systems of slavery and indentured labor had far-reaching 
consequences of a social character upon the destinies of the nation. Yet 
in the study of the colonial period only incidental reference is made to 
both facts. The growth of significant social ideals deserves considera- 
tion at least in the high school. Freeing the people of the new nation 
from the trammels of the Old World, such as were found in the system 
of primogeniture, aristocratic caste, and other feudal survivals; the influ- 
ence of the West and of the frontier upon democratic ideals; the rise 
and development of the free school system; the advancement of women 
in social and economic status — these are a few of many types of sub- 
jects which merit attention in a subject which has close and vital bearing 
upon education for socially efficient living. 

Again, in our day, when the facts of industrial expansion and achieve- 
ment loom so large upon the social horizon, the growth of industry should 
receive much more attention than is provided by bare mention at intervals 
in the course. The origin and development of a land system and of a 
public land policy, the tariff, commerce and banking, westward migration, 
immigration, transportation — each of these topics should be treated in 
consecutive manner even in the undifferentiated history course. 

The real limitation in selection and emphasis of subject material lies 
in a State-adopted system of history textbooks, which, as was pointed out 
in the report of the school survey, are generally accepted by the teachers 
as a proper basis of work. The assumption would not be so profoundly 
deplorable in its consequences were these textbooks written in all cases 
from the point of view of the newer social needs. The remedy is to be 
found in the preparation of more definite syllabi, indicating types of desir- 
able topics, giving options in most cases, and suggesting modes of treat- 
ment and proper emphasis in all cases. 

To recapitulate: The course in history and civics is ill-balanced and 
ill-adapted to the newer social demands upon school training. It needs 
enrichment and expansion and definite gradation of material. The em- 
phasis is almost purely political, whereas social and economic stress should 
have equal place in the teaching. The course is in sore need of revision, 
and its subject-matter and method should be embodied in helpful and sug- 
gestive syllabi. 

Facilities for Instruction. Adequate facilities for proper instruction in 
history, — resources in books of the proper types, stores of lantern views 
of historic buildings, of weapons, armor, and articles of dress, — are pre- 
supposed in the equipment of any system of schools which demands and 
receives high-grade work of its teachers. Yet in no other respect is the 
deficiency in the history work more apparent in the South Bend schools. 
In other departments, such as physics, botany, chemistry, domestic science 
and art, and manual training, materials for work are supplied without 
stint. But in geography, civics, and history, demonstration materials, to 
say nothing of the right sort of reading matter, are almost wholly 
wanting. 



History Consultation Service 25 

Teachers of these subjects, it is true, have a responsibility in gather- 
ing and systematizing stocks of illustrative matei'ial, such as pictures, — 
inexpensive prints, cuts, photographs, postcards, — articles culled from 
magazines, and even occasional relics. The history teacher should be a 
diligent collector of visible materials for her craft. But apart from 
these personal collections, unique and distinctive in character, general 
stocks should be provided by the school city and passed on circuit to the 
buildings. One or two schools have made a respectable beginning by the 
purchase of a lantern and sets of slides for use in illustrating some 
phases of history and geography. Every school should at least have one 
of the moderately priced forms of the Balopticon or Radiopticon. Such a 
lantern would provide the basic means for much needed visual instruction. 

Maps and charts of a really useful sort are needed. Nearly every 
building has a set of old-style political maps and a few relief maps. 
Both sorts have their uses, no doubt. But they are not greatly useful in 
teaching history. The historical facts are either not shown on the maps 
or are concealed by wholly irrelevant details. In consequence, demonstra- 
tion of explorer's route or invader's march falls down for want of visual 
clearness. What is wanted is a supply of simple blackboard outline maps 
on which just the requisite detail for the lesson may be entei'ed by the 
teacher. Such an outline may be drawn in an inerasable white paint 
upon the stationary blackboard and preserved for continuous use. Or, 
if preferred, excellent blackboard maps on rollers may be procured at 
moderate cost from the dealers. In the next place, historical charts in 
series, showing land cessions, treaty boundaries, campaigns, routes, popu- 
lation maps, and so on, are desirable. The series published by A. J. 
Nystrom, Chicago, is one of the latest and best. It should be supplied 
to the seventh and eighth grades. The high school is more fortunate in 
having a creditable set of historical maps. 

Maps on special aspects of American history may be obtained from 
the federal government. The Land Office map should by all means be 
hung in every schoolroom where American history and geography are 
taught. This remarkable map, 59 by 82 inches in size, shows the public 
land surveys, Indian, military, and forest reserves, raih'oads, canals, and 
national parks, besides numerous other matters pertaining to the nation's 
growth and expansion. Its cost is nominal and may be secured for schools 
thru a Congressman without charge. It has already been obtained by 
the high school and should be secured for the advanced elementary grades. 
Another instance of useful government maps is the set of seven colored 
maps on the Louisiana Purchase. The Superintendent of Documents, 
Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C, furnishes a descriptive 
price list of government maps. 

Books for reading in history and civics are greatly needed. In some 
schools other textbooks than the adopted one are used for reading, but 
these are scarcely to be desired for the kind of reading in which boys and 
girls should become interested. Sound and wholesome books dealing with 
the life of the people, some of the best books of historical fiction, a few 
of the great masterworks of the standard historians, are among the types 
of books so important for use in these years. The high school is again 



26 Indiana University 

more liberally provided with books, but these are not of the most service- 
able types. 

Useful reference material and some excellent reading are to be found 
in the publications of the State and federal governments. These are 
supplied at nominal cost and in convenient form for use by students. The 
biennial reports of the State departments at Indianapolis should be in 
every school library. A useful and suggestive guide to government pub- 
lications is a pamphlet, Teaching Material in Government Publications, 
by Frederick K. Noyes (Bulletin No. 47, 1913, United States Bureau of 
Education). Full descriptive lists of printed documents on lands, trans- 
portation, finance, tariff, forest service, maps, American history, etc., 
may be obtained by application to the Superintendent of Documents, 
Washington. 

The arrangement with the public library whereby books may be lent 
to the schools is a move in the right direction, but the books should be 
chosen in the first instance by the teachers who are responsible for the 
history work. A permanent committee of teachers and principals should 
be chosen at once whose business it should be to study the material needs 
of the schools, investigate sources of supply, and make recommendations 
for annual stocks of books and other supplies. 

Efficiency in Instruction, The prime need in all history instruction 
is clear and accurate definition of aims. This it seems the teachers gen- 
erally have failed to achieve. Few teachers of history appear to know 
precisely what they wish to accomplish. The immediate end in view is ap- 
parently to cover a given amount of the textbook in the time allotted and 
to enable the children to "get by" the examinations with creditable show- 
ing. Indeed, not infrequently, teachers will offer as a reason for not 
taking up improved methods of teaching their feeling that the ground 
must be covered and their pupils prepared for the examinations. 

Fundamentally, history instruction should aim to help children to enter 
with intelligent appreciation and enlightened understanding into the activ- 
ities of the present-day life and social order. This it may accomplish by 
training them to trace the development of society, to analyze social situa- 
tions, and to deal with simple problems of human adjustment. It should 
seek to cultivate the power of judgment in human affairs, the ability to 
sift and to weigh the evidence in controverted matters, the habit of reserv- 
ing a decision until the evidence has all been presented. Such training 
is of vital import for civic and social life. 

At every step, the relation of situations and tendencies in the past to 
those of the present should be brought clearly into the light. In one class 
which was visited Socrates' philosophy formed the principal theme of 
discussion. The teacher skillfully led the class to see the relation of 
Socrates' teachings to those of Christianity. The children were some- 
what surprised to discover the similarity and to find that Socrates pro- 
claimed the Golden Rule more than four centuries before the Christian 
era begun. In another recitation, the teacher gave a list of persons "who 
especially aided in the cause of American liberty." Among these were 
the names of Lafayette, DeKalb, Steuben, Pulaski, Kosciusko. Suffice 
to say these remained little more than names to the class. If the teacher 
had reminded the class that these very names are written upon the map 



History Consultation Service 27 

of Indiana today, and had asked the children to find why they were given 
to cities and counties, these words would have possessed permanent sig- 
nificance. In another class, Virginia was characterized as the "mother 
of presidents." But the teacher did not refer to the fact that other 
States at the present time, are, by like token, entitled to a similar dis- 
tinction. 

If we apply to the history instruction the ordinary teaching standards, 
we find much of the work falls short of its possibilities. The world of 
education is agreed that the standards for judging instruction are to be 
found in the life about us. What ai-e the elements in daily living that 
might be taken as standards for judging instruction? 

One of the vital factors in everyday life is uiotive. The chief element 
in determining a man's efficiency is whether or not he is dominated by 
strong and worthy purposes. The quality of his character may be said 
to be determined by the quality of his aims and purposes. Instruction, 
then, should make full provision for setting up purposes in the pupils as 
they go about their work. In history, for example, the teacher might 
suggest that the class work out the part their own family played in the 
westward migration ; that they trace the history of the churches in their 
own town ; or that they find the reasons for existing division of opinion 
as to the desirability of extending federal as against State authority. In 
each case, of course, the point for personal investigation serves to illus- 
trate the general topic. A more general purpose might be proposed at 
the beginning of a course, viz., to discover how many of the wars of the 
period might have been avoided and thus prove or dispx'ove the theory of 
arbitration. 

Another extremely important factor in daily living is the weighing 
of I'aliies. Judging the relative worths of the elements in a situation is 
a useful process in the accurate analysis of the situation. Daily classroom 
instruction should see to it that children are trained in estimating relative 
values. In history teaching, opportunities for such training arise in every 
lesson in judging the importance of names, dates, and leaders, and like 
facts to be remembered. Some dates are worth remembering. Others 
need only to be learned for the lesson. The children should learn to esti- 
mate what are the more and less important causes and results of a war, 
the relative value of the terms of a treaty, the greater and lesser leaders 
of a movement. 

Still another element in life of prime importance to the individual is 
the organization of ideas. The essential difference between the efficient 
and the inefficient worker, the convincing and the unconvincing speaker, 
the promoter who gets results and the one who fails, is one of organiza- 
tion or system. In history, again, there is both necessity and opportunity 
for organization of ideas. Careful and constructive outlining, collecting, 
and arranging material for a report in class, marshaling facts and evi- 
dence in logical and orderly sequence in support of a thesis, all constitute 
training of the highest value. 

Finally, a fourth element in the life about us which ranks in impor- 
tance with the foregoing is initiative. This essential quality of leader- 
ship stands high in the world of human values. School instruction should 
be so pitched as to stimulate individual initiative. In history work, 



28 Indiana University 

abundant opportunity arises for fostering initiative. Children may be 
encouraged to give their original points of view^, express independent 
judgments, indicate their preferences of leaders and personalities, and 
place their own estimates upon historical movements. They may be stim- 
ulated to do certain useful kinds of constructive work, to write letters 
and keep diaries, compose historical dramas and plan pageants, hold his- 
torical conventions and make historical treaties, impersonate historical 
characters, participate in informal discussions, reports, debates, and like 
activities. 

The treatment of an actual lesson may serve to give point to the fore- 
going analysis of teaching standards in history. A seventh grade class 
was observed thru a recitation on the military operations at the begin- 
ning of the Revolutionary War. By way of preparation, the class had 
been asked to read the textbook account, about four pages of Gordy's 
History of the United States, dealing with the battles of Lexington and 
Concord, the siege of Boston, and the battle of Bunker Hill. The conduct 
of the recitation consisted of the teacher's calling upon the pupils in turn 
to state the "causes," relate the "incidents," and name the "results," of 
the battles and movements. The acme of recitation perfection was appar- 
ently the ability to enumerate these formal elements of given historical 
facts. There was no attempt to furnish background for the action, to 
relate battle to plan or purpose of the enemy, to supply personal or pic- 
turesque incident. Formal textbook study and reproduction, after the 
formula of "causes, incidents, and results," was the only apparent teach- 
ing standard approximated by the teacher. 

It is readily seen that such a recitation (not at all exceptional or 
unusual) is of little value when measured by the proposed standards. It 
fails to provide for motive, organization, initiative, or appraisal of 
values. How may this same lesson be treated so as to take care of these 
standards? Let us show briefly how this may be done. 

Suppose, by way of motivation, the pupils be asked to decide beyond 
all question whether General Gage, himself in a trying and difficult situ- 
ation, might have averted actual outbreak of hostilities and yet have been 
faithful to his duties as a general. Might General Gage have won our 
admiration and approval to this day and still have satisfied his govern- 
ment at home? By way of organizing the lesson, let the topic be an- 
nounced, "How the war was precipitated," and the class asked to describe 
accurately the conditions in and around Boston about the middle of April, 
1775, and to relate in close sequence the military happenings of the two 
months between April 19 and June 17. The plan and activities of General 
Gage may be freely discussed, criticised, and weighed. The relative pru- 
dence and foresight of the colonial forces and of the British at Bunker 
Hill may be analyzed. General Gage and Colonel Prescott, in the persons 
of two members of the class, may appear and state their respective cases. 
Decision as to the merits of generalship shown by either side may be left 
to the class. For content and background the children may be directed 
to such books as Frothingham's Siege of Boston, Wells's Samuel Adams, 
and to Bancroft's inimitable account. 

In conclusion, let it be understood that there has been no purpose to 
criticize or find fault with the teachers. On the whole, the teachers and 



History Consultation Service 29 

principals constitute an intelligent, earnest, and progressive group of 
workers. As a rule, they are doing about as well as they know how. The 
fault lies in system and in the traditions of work which the teachers have 
inherited and which public opinion has tolerated. It is simply our pur- 
pose to point to a better way. 

Recommendations. The real hope lies in the future. Now that thru 
the school survey the general situation has been diagnosed, and thru the 
history consultation the work in that field has been analyzed, it remains 
for the teachers and principals to study and consider the conditions and 
take steps for improvement. What course may be pursued to realize the 
latent possibilities of work in history? 

1. We recommend that, as a means of concentrating and directing 
the study, a committee consisting of representative teachers of history in 
the grades and high school, and of principals, be chosen to study the prob- 
lems and confer with the school administration. One section of the com- 
mittee should attack the question of the course of study, and formulate 
syllabi for each year of the work. The syllabi should in every case state 
in clear terms the aims of the course as a whole and the specific aims of 
each year of the course. They should indicate desirable topics, time limits, 
relative emphasis, methods of work, and suitable reading. Another sec- 
tion of the committee should study the matter of instruction facilities, 
including sources of supply, plans of distribution, and modes of using. 
The superintendent and assistant superintendent should be ex-officio 
members of the general committee and should advise and confer with it 
in all matters for improvement of the work, 

2. We recommend that the school city make a considerable initial 
investment in visualizing apparatus, and in suitable books, and that it 
make annual provision for adding to the stock. It should arrange with 
the library committee for acting upon recommendations of the teachers 
in the purchase of children's books for the public library. 

3. The conferences held during the visitation period should be the 
first of a series of such meetings. They should be continued thruout the 
year. In such conferences, all the history teachers of the city may con- 
sider together the common needs and common problems which have en- 
gaged the attention of the committee. Specified teachers may be dele- 
gated to lead the discussions and suggest changes and indicate lines of 
progress. 



Comments by School Superintendents 



Some comments of the superintendents in cities where the consultation 
work was conducted the past year may not be out of place. We append 
a few of the letters received by the Extension Division. 

From Edwin N. Canine, Superintendent of the East Chicago schools: 
"The work of Mr. Williams was very stimulating and suggestive. In his 
talks he suggested several new points of view and especially emphasized 
many of the ideas which we are already trying to work out. His insis- 
tence on some of the things I have been insisting upon served to emphasize 
those things for the teachers, for example, closer organization of upper 
grade work and more attention to civics all the way thru the grades. Our 
teachers received Mr. Williams in splendid spirit, arid I believe that the 
effect upon our history work will be both helpful and lasting. On the 
whole it was very stimulating." 

From T. A. Mott, Superintendent of the Seymour schools: "Mr. O. H. 
Williams spent four and one-half days in our schools last month. His 
work with our teachers resulted in a strong uplift in their teaching of 
history as well as an inspiration in all their work. He visited each room 
in the city and heard recitations in the history work. He offered criti- 
cism, and consulted and advised with each teacher whom he visited. 
He addressed six meetings of teachers on subjects relating to their 
work in history, and held many personal consultations with individual 
teachers. Every teacher of history in the grades and the high school felt 
greatly aided by his visit with us. I am sure that the University can do 
no more useful work for the schools of the State than by sending into 
the schools experts in the school subjects who will do work similar to 
that of Mr. Williams." 

From L. J. Montgomery, Superintendent of the South Bend schools: 
"We felt that the general conference and the round-table discussions were 
of great value. Mr. Williams has a very accurate knowledge of all lines 
of history work, also of the aims which history teachers should have. 
We were glad to have these points brought before our teachers and are 
sure that good will come of it. We hope to continue the history work 
along some of the lines which Mr. Williams has indicated and which he 
will point out more thoroly in his written report." 

In a later letter Superintendent Montgomery adds: "Since your visit 
and report on our work, a committee of about eight teachers have been 
working with me on our history course, and, while the work is very far 
from complete at the present time, we shall probably have printed by our 
school printing department the report in its present shape. We have, 
perhaps, done more in collecting local history than on any other one point. 
Suggestions which you made and which were also made by Dr. Bobbitt 
we have discussed and we realize that they are sane, but we also realize 

(30) 



History Consultation Service 31 

that it is extremely difficult to put them into practice when forming a 
course of study." 

n u'"w-n- ^' ^""^'■' Superintendent of the Mishawaka schools: "Mr 
U. H. Williams spent four days in our schools visiting, consulting criti- 
cizing, and helping us in every way. Our only regret was that he could 
not stay with us longer. We feel that we were very greatly helped both 
m pomt of view and inspiration. We are planning a reorganization of 
our history course on the strength of his work. Mr. Williams has the 
proper point of view and knows how to go into a new place and make his 
influence felt. The teachers are wishing we could have some one in the 
other subjects." 



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